The Auditorium Choir:
Information for Singers
Welcome!
The Auditorium choir is open to all singers without audition.
Covid-19 precautions: We do not require masks and encourage you to make your own choice about whether to wear one and to to respect the choices of others. However, if you are showing any signs of respiratory illness or fever, we ask that you attend the streamed rehearsal online instead of the in-person rehearsal. Seating will be staggered for social distancing to the extent possible. You can always sit on the main floor instead of the choir loft if you prefer. Connection information for live-streamed rehearsals and services will be in the calendar at right; no streaming is available for rehearsals not in the Auditorium.
We rehearse Tuesday and Friday nights; Tuesday is dedicated to the choir festival and the sacred concert music. Friday’s rehearsal starts with festival/sacred concert music and is followed by a short rehearsal of the Sunday anthem starting about 9 pm. On Sunday morning, we meet at 9 am for a 45-minute rehearsal followed by a light breakfast in the Auditorium Pavilion. Our first rehearsal is scheduled for Friday, June 7; Tuesday rehearsals will begin June 18.
Note: Virtual rehearsal streaming connection information is located on each calendar entry. Click on the calendar entry to see the details, or link the calendar to your own calendar to get alerts. Please note that if Jason or Quinton is not available for a rehearsal or if the rehearsal is not in the Auditorium, you will not be able to connect.
Choir Festival — Saturday, July 20, 2024, 7 pm
We’re moving the festival to Saturday for 2024 to see if more people are able to attend. There will be activities planned for choir members’ families and for choir members (when not rehearsing!).
Registration is now open!
For the full Saturday schedule, including a link to preorder dinner, visit here. Dinner reservations are due by July 1.
Bring your voice and bring your friends! We can’t wait to see you there!
If your choir will be running regional rehearsals, please send a note to webmaster@ogchoir.org — we’ll post a list of regional rehearsals here for others who might live near you.
Dress
For Sunday services, dress comfortably; however, shorts are not appropriate. For the Festival and Sacred Concert, women should wear all white or white tops and black bottoms; men should wear a white shirt, dark tie, and dark slacks.
Transportation & Parking
Parking, especially on a weekend in July, is difficult in Ocean Grove. There are metered spaces and parking garages in nearby Asbury Park. The North Jersey Coast line runs convenient trains to Asbury Park, a short walk from the Auditorium:
However, the easiest way to visit is to rent your own bus and bring a crowd! If you do want to bring a bus, contact the OGCMA office at (732)-775-0035 for information on drop-off and pick-up sites as well as a recommendation for bus parking. At right is an interactive map of churches and choral groups that recently sent singers to the Festival — we recommend you contact groups near you to cooperate on hiring a bus or van.
Choir Banquet
The annual choir banquet will be held on Sunday, August 20 in the Youth Temple. Details will be available in July.
Music Return
If you received any packets of music from the Choir library for a prior Choir Festival or Sacred Concert, you may mail them back to the Auditorium Choir, OGCMA, PO Box 248, Ocean Grove, NJ 07756. or hold onto them until summer when you can return them in person.
We are also happy to accept music from previous years as a donation to the library!
Delaine Terpening Sarraf's collection of Festival ribbons